Happy Easter, Aquabike, Healing Up!

HAPPY EASTER! He is risen indeed!

Let me thank all of you that left such great notes on my last post about my blog entry. I haven't posted much because I've been crazy busy and trying to figure out this injury. It's now been 3 weeks since I ran, BUT I don't think it'll be too much longer until I can start it up again. There was some worry that I may have had a stress fracture and calf-strain. I am scheduled for a bone scan this next Tuesday (scheduled 3 weeks ago--that's Army medicine for you!) to rule it out, but it's just to be safe. I've been going in to the Physical Therapist (who is a triathlete and marathoner himself) and they've done some electrical stimulus to help with the pain (which is mostly gone now) and the other day he got me into see the volunteer massage therapists (one-day a week) and she did WONDERFUL things without much pressure and pretty much was able to determine that I need to strengthen the outside of my right calf and stretch the inside more. Without my saying so, she determined that I under-pronate/supinate (roll outward on my foot vs. inward)--which is exactly where my wear pattern on my shoes are. I am seeing her again tomorrow afternoon at her local massage clinic. It is GREAT to have found a local, trained sports massage therapists. There are places to get massages, but actual sports massages for helping heal up, not so much here in the land of Killeen. I'm betting I'm back to running in a week or so! Yay!

The Lonestar Aquabike went well. My swim was not stellar or as fast as I can do, that's for sure. But, I was using my new long-sleeve wetsuit (got a killer deal on it, and knew I'd want it for Ironman Florida), and I haven't had too many swims in it, so my shoulders got a little tired in the middle. Plus, my head wasn't into the game for the swim yet...I think I let my injury suck a little of my usual race enthusiasm away. However, one of the best parts of the Aquabike was that I got a BLUE swim cap vs. the ugly fluorescent pink one I was going to have to have for the normal Half-Ironman. Swim time: 39min 23secs Still good enough for 6/23 women in the Aquabike.

After I got out of the water I did what I thought was slow jog up the transition chute, got my wetsuit stripped by the wonderful wetsuit strippers, grabbed a bit of Gatorade to get the saltiness out of my mouth, then to my bike rack: shoes on, helmet on, sunglasses on, and I was off. Transition 1 time: 2:22 Actually the fastest time in the women's aquabike and would've been top 5 in my normal age group, and I thought I was going slowly!!

When I got out on the bike I hit some headwind, and my quads and hips were sore, it was really odd. I was having a hard time getting into the groove for the first 15-20 miles. The winds weren't horrid, and I'm used to them now plus it was flat. I was having a hard time getting above 20mph, and I wanted to for this bike. I hit the 20 mile mark at the hour mark and something sparked then, part of it had to do with the 79 year old guy that passed me (didn't last), but then I was FINALLY in the groove and went 21-24mph from them on out and it was fun. I think I probably should've been able to do around 22mph avg. since I didn't have to run, but those first few miles didn't let me. However, I'm still very happy with my 21.3mph avg with a final bike time of 2:38!
It was good for 2nd/23 in the women's aquabike giving me a total time of 3:19:49 and putting me 2nd place overall (of 23) for the women's aquabike and 10th overall for all aquabikers (men and women, 41).

I then cheered on a lot of my friends that were running. It was odd not to run, but definitely smart. I walked away with a nice award, my friend Anne won a drawing for free Mavic race wheels, and it was overall a great race. I definitely recommend the Lone Star Triathlon Festival to anyone! It's a top notch race. They have a Sprint, 1/4 Iron, and 1/2 Iron. They do the sprint on Saturday and the other two on Sunday. They have some deals of doing the sprint and then one of the other races. I think I may do the Sprint and the 1/4 Iron next year (easier to train for that while training for Boston 2010 vs. training for a 1/2 and Boston---I've learned that!!).

Lastly, thanks again to all of you who have already donated to the Wounded Warrior Project through my page for the Janus Charity Challenge. If you haven't yet, don't worry, there is plenty of time, so whenever and whatever you can support will make a difference!! Thanks everyone!
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